In doing some reading this morning in a 2001 issue of CWTI, there was the "The year 1861" type article.  Basically a brief overview of the major happenings that year.

One of the notes was the moving of the Confederate Capitol from Montgomery AL, to Richmond, VA.

And for some reason, I thought would it had helped or hurt the Confederates defense if they had left the captiol in Alabama?  By moving it to Richmond it was now 100 or so miles from DC which makes it a rather inviting target.  Would the Union's plan for winning the war have been different if the government was just down the road?

" Would the Union's plan for winning the war have been different if the government was just down the road? "

The problem for the Union was that there wasn't one centralized government, but in reality, many separate entities. Even with the dissolution of the central government, you still would have 12 state governments in rebellion. A perfect example of this disjointed leadership is represented by the Confederate troops of Missouri.  

After three years of significant service, the Missouri Brigade was finally captured in the fall of Vicksburg. Grant paroles the Brigade and sends them home. Upon returning, many of these parolees immediately reenlisted in the army. The reenlistement papers called for service of either 25 years or until the end of the war, whichever came first.

Consequently, they were shipped East once again and continued their efforts. They were finally captured at Fort Blakely,AL a full six weeks after Lee surrendered at Appomatox. While the loss of the ANV couldn't have helped the morale of the troops, Missourians still followed their own agenda.

Lincoln made it more than clear that Richmond's capture was a priority. Still, Scott's " Anaconda Plan " was developed to supress all of the states in revolt, not just one. That plan would still have to be the basis of the Union effort, whether the Confederate government was in Montgomery, Richmond, or Wyoming. The main tenants of how a Confederacy operates made it so.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Rick Gath